A 4-Wheeled ATV is another term for All Terrain Vehicle. It has 4 wheels and is designed to be driven off road. It seats one person, or sometimes two, one in front of the other.

This product information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink , which provides information on engines, and OE Link, a database of equipment manufacturers.

Trends. In 2025, production of ATVs in North America decreased 12%. But production is expected to gain a nominal 1% in 2026. Uncertain economic outlook, rising production costs and the growing popularity of side x side units (utility vehicles) are main reasons for the production decline. 

Manufacturers have discontinued less popular models/variants and are concentrating on bestselling units due to saturation in the market.  ATVs are used in a variety of activities that include recreation, sport and military related needs.

According to investor relations for Yamaha, Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat, consumer discretionary spending is on the rise.  Production is expected to improve as indicated by current economic factors along with the introduction of innovative products and technologies.  Look for an additional increase up to 5-10% by 2035, although gas price increases caused by the war in Iran may affect sales.

No electric/battery powered units were produced until 2026 MY. BRP Mexico has two Outlander electric models it is introducing 2026 MY.    PSR

Carol Turner is Senior Analyst, Global Operations, at Power Systems Research

Data released in early June by the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) shows that Germany’s domestic machinery orders fell 4% to 5% in real terms year-over-year. High manufacturing costs and rigid bureaucracy continue to weigh down the home market. However, the industry is forecasting a 1% production recovery to $15.72 billion USD (€13.7 billion) for the latter half of 2026. This mild turnaround is entirely driven by the rollout of the German federal government’s “Special Assets” (Sondervermögen) off-budget funds, which are finally trickling down into physical orders for climate protection, infrastructure, and defense machinery.

Source: VDMA and VDW   Read The Article   Read The Article   Read The Article

PSR Analysis. For German heavyweights like Wacker Neuson, BMW Group, and Stihl, the message is clear: survival inside Germany requires a shift away from standard commercial lines toward state-funded infrastructure and municipal grid expansion.

To fight off rising Chinese export competition (which jumped 18%), German OEMs are increasingly shifting to a “Local-for-Local” manufacturing footprint, moving up to 20% of their production capability out of Germany into other eastern EU regions (like Poland and Romania) to capture lower labor and operational costs while maintaining an EU-origin label.   PSR

Emiliano Marzoli is Manager of European Operations for Power Systems Research

AGCO has presented new AGCO Power engines powered by ethanol and biomethane for agricultural machinery, developed by its South American engineering team. The solutions target tractors in the 200 hp to 300 hp range and were validated in real field operations, including sugarcane and grain crops.

The ethanol engine uses dedicated ignition and injection systems, while the biomethane version is aimed at farms with access to biomass and biogas production. According to AGCO, the technologies can deliver diesel equivalent performance and reduce CO₂ equivalent emissions by up to 90%. Market introduction is expected in 2027 for biomethane and in 2028 for ethanol.

Source:Revista M&T with information from AGCO press office.  Read The Articles

PSR Analysis. Rising oil prices, diesel supply risks, and the resulting insecurity for farmers strengthen the case for engines powered by locally produced fuels such as ethanol and biomethane. As with other engine manufacturers and OEMs, AGCO is investing to respond to this demand and enable access to lower carbon technologies suited to South America’s agricultural fuel base.

The key uncertainty is when these solutions will become commercially competitive against diesel in acquisition cost, operating cost, and fuel availability. Hybrid powertrain support may become relevant to improve efficiency, reduce fuel consumption, and accelerate competitiveness in some agricultural applications, especially for sugar cane producers.    PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director, Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

The exported Tetratrem can carry up to 144 metric tons, with a Gross Combined Weight of 211 metric tons. Prototype units are being shipped for customer testing between May and June 2026, with the contracted batch of around 174 products expected to start shipping in July.

Source: Revista M&T with information from Randon press office.  Read Articles

PSR Analysis. The export to Indonesia reinforces Randon’s internationalization strategy as a road implement manufacturer, following the same structural expansion trend seen in the group’s auto parts businesses and Frasle Mobility. By applying Brazilian expertise in high capacity agribusiness logistics to Southeast Asia, Randon expands its addressable market, although competitiveness will depend on local adaptation, after sales support, logistics efficiency, and customer validation under Indonesian operating conditions.  PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director, Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

The IBEX 700 uses a 693 cc two cylinder engine with 67.9 hp. Prices start at R$ 32,990 for the 450 CL-C, R$ 33,990 for the Bobber, R$ 35,990 for the IBEX 450, and R$ 44,990 for the IBEX 700. All models include a three year warranty and fixed price maintenance up to 30,000 km.

Source: Automotive Business.    Read The Article

PSR Analysis. CFMoto’s entry reinforces the expansion of Chinese motorcycle manufacturers in Brazil through local CKD (Completely Knocked Down) assembly, competitive pricing, and a portfolio positioned in mid displacement custom and adventure segments.

The Manaus operation gives the brand industrial and tax structure alignment with the Brazilian two wheel market, while the initial dealer network indicates a controlled market entry. The main challenge will be building brand trust, parts availability, after sales capacity, and residual value perception against established Japanese and European competitors.   PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director, Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

The Move Brazil financing program helped slow the market contraction but was not enough to reverse the decline. Truck production also fell 17.2% from January to April, to 35,400 units, while exports declined 14%, to 7,000 units. ANFAVEA, the main association of Producers, expects support from Move Brazil 2, which will provide US$ 4.11 billion (R$ 21.2 billion) for truck, bus, and road implement financing, with terms of up to 120 months and a limit of US$9.70 million (R$ 50 million) per beneficiary.

Source: AutoData   Read The Article

PSR Analysis. Subsidized financing can soften the truck market downturn, but demand remains constrained by high acquisition costs, credit conditions, and economy uncertainty. Move Brazil 2 may improve short term order intake for OEMs and implement manufacturers, but a sustained recovery will not take place until lower interest rates are in place and clearer economic outlook for operators.   PSR

Fabio Ferraresi is Director, Business Development, South America, for Power Systems Research

Hitachi Construction Machinery announced that a joint demonstration test will begin with Fukudome Kaihatsu in Tosa, Kochi Prefecture, using a ZX200A-7 20-ton class hydraulic excavator and a real-time digital twin platform. The test will be conducted in  June 2026 at a river dredging project site in the Niyodo River Mochiishi District.

The platform integrates 3D terrain data, camera images, construction machinery, vehicles, and worker location information in real time, and reproduces the worksite in a virtual 3D space. The demonstration will compare remote operation under direct visual observation, remote operation using camera images, and remote operation using the real-time digital twin platform, in order to verify its effect on safety and productivity.

A related example can be seen in agricultural machinery, where NTT, Kubota, and NTT DOCOMO demonstrated communication technologies for the remote operation and monitoring of robotic agricultural machinery in mountainous areas. The demonstration combined mobile and satellite communications with video control technology to support stable remote operation under fluctuating communication conditions.

Source: Hitachi Construction Machinery / NTT, Kubota and NTT DOCOMO

PSR Analysis: The significance of this announcement is not simply that Japanese construction machinery is becoming more digital. The more important point is that Japan’s off-highway sector is beginning to show a practical path for dealing with one of its most serious structural constraints: the shrinking supply of skilled operators.

In Japan, the discussion around construction machinery and agricultural machinery often turns quickly to electrification or autonomy. Both are important long-term themes, but they are not necessarily the first areas where the market will see broad practical adoption. On many construction sites, especially in civil engineering, disaster recovery, and regional public works, the immediate problem is not how to replace the diesel engine. It is how to keep work moving when experienced operators are becoming harder to secure, and when safety requirements are rising.

That is why remote construction using digital twin technology deserves attention. Full autonomy remains difficult in construction because the work environment is highly variable. Ground conditions change, surrounding objects move, work procedures differ by site, and judgment often depends on the operator’s understanding of the whole worksite. A digital twin platform does not remove the operator from the process. Instead, it gives the operator and site manager a better view of the jobsite and supports better decision-making from a remote location.

This distinction matters. Remote operation and worksite visualization can be introduced as an extension of existing hydraulic excavators and construction workflows. They do not require an immediate shift to a completely new machine architecture. For users, that makes adoption more realistic. For OEMs and suppliers, it means that competitiveness will increasingly depend on how well machines can be integrated into connected worksite systems, not only on conventional measures such as power, durability, fuel efficiency, or hydraulic performance.

The agricultural machinery case points to the same issue from another direction. Robot tractors and other automated machines cannot operate safely at scale without stable communications, reliable video transmission, and remote monitoring. In mountainous areas, where communication quality can fluctuate sharply, the machine itself is only one part of the solution. The broader system — communications, software, sensors, video control, and supervision — becomes just as important as the vehicle.

For the Japanese off-highway market, this suggests that “labor-saving” may become a more immediate commercial driver than electrification. Diesel-powered machines are likely to remain in use for many applications, but they will be expected to operate within increasingly digital and remotely managed environments. The future competitive question may therefore shift from “who builds the best machine?” to “whose machine fits best into a safer, more productive, and more remotely managed worksite?”

This is a meaningful direction for Japan. It plays to the country’s strengths in machinery, field engineering, telecommunications, and incremental system integration. It also addresses a problem that is already visible in the market: not a shortage of machines, but a shortage of people who can operate them efficiently and safely. PSR

Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, for Power Systems Research

The company also secured a KRW 27 billion contract to supply 50 15-ton DEVELON bulldozers to the Polish military. This is the company’s first major military procurement order in Europe.

In addition, HD Construction Equipment signed an MOU with the Mykolaiv regional government in Ukraine to cooperate on reconstruction projects. The scope of cooperation includes not only construction equipment supply, but also training, financing, and energy infrastructure recovery.

Source: HD Construction Equipment / HD Hyundai / HD Construction Equipment

PSR Analysis: These announcements should not be read simply as a series of export wins. The more important point is that HD Construction Equipment is expanding into overseas markets where construction machinery is closely linked to infrastructure, defense, mining, and reconstruction.

The ADT order in Norway is a clear example. Articulated dump trucks are not general-purpose machines. They are used in demanding off-highway applications such as quarries, tunnels, soft ground, and rough terrain. Being selected by a major Northern European rental company suggests that Korean construction equipment is being evaluated not only on price, but also on uptime, durability, service support, residual value, and suitability for professional heavy-duty work. This indicates that Korean machines are moving into markets with higher operating requirements, rather than remaining only a lower-cost alternative.

The bulldozer contract with the Polish military should be viewed in the same context. Since the war in Ukraine, Europe has been strengthening both defense capability and infrastructure resilience. Bulldozers and excavators are not combat equipment, but they are essential for military infrastructure, mobility support, and emergency recovery. Construction machinery is therefore becoming more clearly connected to defense and public procurement.

The Ukraine reconstruction MOU has a longer-term significance. In reconstruction markets, selling machines alone is not enough. Suppliers need to support operator training, maintenance, financing, and local implementation. HD Construction Equipment appears to be positioning itself not just as a machinery supplier, but as a partner in the reconstruction process.

This is a natural direction for Korea’s construction equipment industry. The domestic market alone is too limited to support the next stage of growth, so Korean manufacturers need to target overseas markets where their machines can win in specific applications. Northern European rental fleets, Eastern European military and public procurement, and Ukraine reconstruction are all logical targets.

For powertrain and component suppliers, the implications are also important. In high-load applications such as ADTs, bulldozers, and large excavators, electrification will advance in selected areas, but diesel engines, hydraulic systems, transmissions, durability, and service networks will remain central to competitiveness for some time. Korea’s recent export moves show that demand for heavy-duty off-highway machinery is likely to remain solid, supported by infrastructure, defense, and reconstruction needs. PSR

Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, for Power Systems Research

Ten Thai automotive and auto parts associations have warned that EV adoption is putting pressure on domestic production and that the country’s automotive industry could face a crisis. According to the industry groups, Thai manufacturers are struggling to compete with low-cost, zero-tariff EV imports from China, while local parts suppliers are seeing orders decline.

The associations, which represent more than 1,500 member companies, said in a letter to the government that the industry could face a major shock in 2027, when the current incentive scheme designed to support EV production is scheduled to end. They called on the government to review the EV policy before the incentives expire and to introduce urgent measures to support the industry.

Their proposals include tax reforms to favor EVs produced in Thailand, linking import quotas with domestic production and technology transfer, strengthening local content requirements, promoting the use of Thai-made parts, improving access to raw materials, and tightening rules of origin and technology transfer requirements.

Under Thailand’s EV 3.5 scheme, manufacturers are required to produce two EVs locally for every EV imported in 2026, and three EVs locally for every EV imported in 2027. The Thai government has since adjusted the rules so that EVs produced in Thailand for export can also count toward these production requirements, in response to weak domestic demand and the risk of oversupply.

Source: Reuters / Automotive Logistics / Thailand Board of Investment

PSR Analysis: The issue is not simply that EV sales are increasing in Thailand. The more important point is that Thailand’s EV policy is moving from the demand-creation stage to a more difficult question: whether that demand can be absorbed into the domestic industrial base.

Thailand’s policy was designed to first build the EV market through imports and subsidies and then require manufacturers to localize production. That logic is clear. But if domestic demand remains weak while production obligations increase, manufacturers may end up producing EVs in Thailand without a sufficiently large local market to absorb them. That would raise the risk of oversupply, price competition, and lower plant utilization.

This is why the government’s decision to allow exported EVs to count toward production requirements matters. It suggests that Thailand’s EV strategy cannot rely on domestic sales alone. The next question is not just how many EVs are sold in Thailand, but where Thai-made EVs can be sold, and how much of that production can be linked to local parts, local capability, and technology transfer.

The pressure on existing suppliers is also more complicated than the familiar point that EVs use fewer parts than ICE vehicles. That is true, and ICE-related suppliers will inevitably face pressure. But the deeper issue is that if the EV market grows mainly through imports, higher sales volumes will not necessarily create more work for Thai suppliers. If batteries, motors, inverters, and electronic components remain largely imported, Thailand’s EV market can grow without significantly deepening the local supply chain.

In that sense, 2027 may become less of an incentive-expiry date and more of a sorting point for the Thai EV market. Manufacturers with scale, export channels, distribution networks, financing capacity, and battery sourcing strength will be better positioned. Brands that depend mainly on domestic sales, or cannot absorb the cost of local production, may come under pressure.

This matters for Japanese OEMs and suppliers as well. Thailand has long been the core ASEAN production base for Japanese automakers, but that position will not automatically carry over into the EV era. Japanese companies now need to decide how to reuse the production base they built around ICE vehicles in a market where the competitive rules are being rewritten by batteries, electronics, cost, and speed.

Thailand’s case also carries a wider lesson for Southeast Asia. Expanding EV sales and building an EV industry are not the same thing. Thailand’s ability to become an ASEAN EV hub will depend less on headline EV sales volume and more on whether EV demand can be converted into domestic production, exports, local sourcing, and technology transfer. PSR

Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, at Power Systems Research